Controlled Chaos

Well its back to the big crazy city after spending 3 amazing days in Izmir, Kusadasi, and Efes. Although Izmir is Turkey’s 3rd largest city, with a population of around 3 million people, it is a completely different world than Istanbul. Driving along the coast of the Aegean Sea you can look out and see Greece, and get lost in the beauty of the water. Actually, if it weren’t for being able to see Greece, and the clear lack of English being spoken, other than by us in the group, Izmir could easily be mistaken for central California, specifically around the Sierra Nevada’s, and wine country. Life there, although clearly much more open still seems to have many elements of the chaotic city life that is present in Istanbul. Specifically the way in which people interact with each other and the driving….. Wow, drivers in this country are INSANE!!!!!!! If you’ve ever been to…. lets say Boston, take the insanity of drivers there and multiply that by about ten and you might begin to understand what it is like to ride in a car in this country. However, what I am starting to notice (other than the incessant honking outside my window all night, every night) is that driving here truly is an art. Actually, Jackson Pollock’s art is a perfect representation of Turkish driving. On the surface everything is very chaotic, disorganized, and most often overwhelming. But, when one stops and actually looks at what is happening there is an incredible amount of method being applied to the madness. Its not that a driver will take each and every chance that they get to cut someone off, barely slowing down for a flashing red light (the all to famous California slide), or passing someone who is going too slow (even if they are already going 5-10 KPH over the speed limit, or there is on-coming traffic) on a winding mountainous road in a no passing zone, but that, everything is done with purpose, and that no one seems to mind any of it. For example, yesterday while driving in Izmir our minibus driver decided to pass another car who wasn’t going quite fast enough, despite there being a line of 3 cars coming at us in the opposite lane. What was the solution you ask, the oncoming cars moved to the side, straddling the lane and the shoulder to allow us room to pass without slowing down or missing a beat, and not one single blast of a car horn was heard. Although driving like that would be absolutely intolerable in the states, it seems to be not only common but also completely accepted here. It is this understanding of the way things work that changes everything from being absolute anarchy to organized / intentional chaos. Like Pollack’s paintings, despite the apparent randomness to it by the naked eye, once one get up close to it and really looks to see what’s there, there is an incredible amount of depth and purpose to the madness.